Swire Shipping has announced it will operate its North Asia Express (NAX) service on a fixed-day, fortnightly and 42-day rotation basis, from November 2020.
NAX will offer a direct container service to / from North Asia and Papua New Guinea and Queensland. Transhipment is available via Hong Kong for all other Asian ports and the rest of the world. There will be a nine-day transit from Hong Kong, China, to Lae, Papua New Guinea.
The NAX service was first launched in July 2015 to provide a direct link between North Asia, Townsville in Australia and Lae.
The rotation and transit times are approximately as follows:
- Shanghai to Ningbo (transit time: two days)
- Ningbo to Nansha (four days)
- Nansha to Hong Kong (one day)
- Hong Kong to Lae (nine days)
- Lae to Port Moresby (five days)
- Port Moresby to Townsville (four days)
- Townsville to Shanghai (13 days)
Swire Shipping will deploy three vessels ranging from 2,500 TEU to 2,750 TEU on the service. The 2,750 TEU newbuild, Lae Chief, will be delivered this month and will be deployed on the service.
Fitted with 45 tonne cranes and capable of dual lifts, the vessel is equipped to carry a variety cargo types, including breakbulk, out of gauge, reefer, all types of containerised cargo and all types of hazardous cargo.
See also:
Swire Shipping introduces new ship for the PNG-Pacific Islands trade
Swire Shipping deploys newbuild multi-purpose ship into regional Pacific trades
